Ishmael

The narrator goes to the location noted in the ad. On the wall is a poster that reads: “With Man Gone, Will There Be Hope For Gorilla?” (9), which the narrator identifies as a koan, or a paradoxical riddle. Behind a glass partition, the narrator sees a gorilla. The gorilla explains through telepathy that he was kidnapped as a child and brought to a zoo in the northeastern United States.

Discussing captivity, the gorilla tells the narrator how a tiger paces in its cage at the zoo asking “why,” but it cannot reason the question any further. The gorilla explains the question, describing how life in Africa was superior to life at the zoo; he says that animals in captivity, like the tiger, are much more preoccupied by their states than their free counterparts.

During the Great Depression, the gorilla was sold to a traveling menagerie, where visitors often spoke to him, calling him Goliath, which he realized was his name. The gorilla struggled to understand the difference between humans and animals. He recalls the day a man came to the menagerie, walked up to the gorilla, and told the gorilla that he was not Goliath before walking away.

Ishmael recalls waking up in a modified gazebo on a large stretch of land. The man returned and told the gorilla that his name is Ishmael, not Goliath. Ishmael explains that the man’s name was Walter Sokolow. Walter’s family died in the Holocaust. After recognizing Ishmael’s intelligence, Walter used Ishmael as a surrogate family, teaching him about history and science after discovering Ishmael’s telepathic abilities. Eventually, Ishamel’s interests surpassed Walter’s, and Walter assisted Ishmael in continuing his research. Then, Walter married Sarah, hiding Ishmael’s intelligence from her, and they had a daughter, Rachel.

Rachel and Ishmael developed a close relationship, and Rachel became a prodigy with Ishmael’s help. Ishmael tells the narrator that Walter died in 1985, at which point Rachel took over his care. Around 1989, Sarah cut Ishmael’s funding, and Ishmael arranged to move to the city.

The narrator asks Ishmael how many students he has had, and Ishmael says that he has failed with four prior students. Ishmael says he teaches the subject of captivity, explaining that the world is held captive by humanity, which is in turn held captive by culture. Ishmael notes that human efforts to release themselves and the world from captivity thus far have failed due to their inability to find the bars of their metaphorical cage.

The narrator tells Ishmael about a paper he wrote in college in which the Nazis won World War II. In the paper, the Nazis subsequently perpetrated a global ethnic cleansing, eliminating all but the German people. They modified textbooks to reflect only Germanic values and beliefs, but generations later, a young college student named Kurt expresses to his friend Hans that he suspects that they have all been lied to about something. Ishmael asks if the narrator feels lied to, and he responds that he does.

The narrator returns home, unsure whether he is dreaming. He notes that he does not have many friends because of how seriously he takes the idea of friendship, but he also expresses a need for connection with others.

Ishmael asks the narrator how Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party and the head of the German state from 1934 to 1945, came to power, and the narrator answers that he does not know. Ishmael explains that the Nazi party gained power through a story in which the German people fought back against oppression and became the “master race.” Ishmael says that a similar story is holding America captive today, though it is a story so commonly told that no one thinks about it. Ishmael says it is difficult to understand the story beyond the innate understanding instilled in everyone.

Ishmael notes that the German people who disagreed with Hitler could leave Germany, but the current story being told in America is global and cannot be escaped. The consequence of refusing to participate in the story is starvation, and Ishmael says that “Mother Culture” tells everyone that this is correct. Everyone must participate in the story to fulfill the goal of humanity. He says this is a “preface” to their work, but he warns the narrator that the study will likely alienate him from friends and family.

Ishmael wants to agree on terms before starting their study, and he asks the narrator if the terms “Takers” and “Leavers” are neutral. The narrator affirms that they are, and Ishmael says he will refer to the people of the narrator’s culture as Takers and the people of all other cultures as Leavers. The narrator disputes this, claiming that all other cultures cannot be grouped this way, but Ishmael clarifies that “Takers” will refer to all cultures like the narrator’s, which would be called “civilized,” while the “primitive” cultures are “Leavers.”

Ishmael says he has a map of how they are going to proceed with the “journey” of the study. He explains that Mother Culture is perpetual and expressed through interactions and media, comparing it to a mosaic. Their journey is to rearrange the pieces of that mosaic to create a different understanding of the world.

Ishmael provides three definitions: A story is a narrative connecting humans, reality, and “the gods”; “to enact” is when people act out the story they are participating in; and “culture” is a group of people enacting the same story. Ishmael explains that there are two competing stories enacted by people today: Takers enact a recent story, while Leavers participate in a much older one.

Ishmael says that the narrator’s culture would frame the Leavers’ story as the first chapter in human history, ending with the advent of agriculture 10,000 years prior. The Takers’ story, then, would be the second chapter; however, Ishmael says that he is approaching these stories as concurrent.

Ishmael tells the narrator to search for his own culture’s story. The narrator insists that he does not know of such a story, and Ishmael tells him that a prior pupil was confused by how calmly people talk about the end of the world. Ishmael explained to her that the story of their culture pacifies them against issues like pollution and deforestation. Ishmael reframes the discussion as mythology, telling the narrator to figure out what his culture’s mythology is. Comparing to Greek and Norse mythology, the narrator says that modern culture does not have myths. Ishmael notes that the Greeks and Norse did not consider their own mythology to be mythology, either, and he specifies that the narrator should begin by finding his culture’s creation story.

When the narrator returns to Ishmael, he finds a tape recorder on his armchair. Ishmael tells him to recount the creation myth of his culture, and the narrator responds that there is no such myth, suggesting Genesis, the first book of the Christian Bible. Ishmael says that Genesis is not the story the narrator would tell to express the origin of the world, and the narrator responds that he can talk about the origin of the world, but it is not a myth.

The narrator recounts the big bang, a theory on the expansion of the universe, as well as the process of evolution, beginning with microorganisms that evolved into bacteria, fish, reptiles, mammals, and humans. The narrator is not sure of the timeline, but Ishmael assures him that total accuracy is not necessary. Afterward, Ishmael declares that the story is a myth, which upsets the narrator. Playing back the tape, the narrator still struggles to find the elements that would make his story a myth, and Ishmael teases him for not thinking.

Ishmael tells a story about an anthropologist living half a billion years prior, who searches the empty Earth for living creatures. He finds and interviews a jellyfish, asking for the jellyfish’s creation myth. The jellyfish is offended, saying that their creation story is not a myth, then recounts the same basic story that the narrator did in the previous chapter. Instead of noting the appearance of humans, though, the jellyfish is proud to announce the day that jellyfish first appeared and ends the creation story there. The anthropologist asks about land, but the jellyfish insists that land is the lip of the bowl of the ocean.

The narrator is irritated with Ishmael’s analogy, insisting that he does not understand the point Ishmael is making. Ishmael notes that the jellyfish’s story seems to claim that jellyfish are the pinnacle of evolution, just as the narrator’s implies that humanity is the final step in the creation of existence. The narrator understands the implication, but he insists that these are facts, not myths. Ishmael notes that the universe continues to expand and create into the present, so humanity cannot be the end or climax of the universe. The narrator concedes that this creation story is a myth.

Ishmael asks the narrator about the meaning of the myth, and the narrator claims there is none. However, Ishmael guides the narrator to reveal how the creation myth specifies that the universe, galaxy, solar system, and planet were all designed by divine intentions to create and support human life. This framing gives the myth the meaning of human importance, but Ishmael notes that it does not yet reveal the gods’ intentions for humanity.

Ishmael clarifies how the premise of human importance led humanity to believe that the world was made for them. The narrator follows this argument, though he still cannot grasp how the idea of human importance is a premise or claim. Ishmael guides him to the answer that the myth of human importance gives humanity the license and desire to use the world and everything in it for their own purposes, even if that results in consequences for non-human elements in the universe.

Ishmael asks how this new understanding of the Takers’ culture contributes to a broader understanding of the present world, and though the narrator initially claims that it does not, Ishmael guides him to see how it shifts the framing of human existence into divine intentions, or destiny. The myth of human importance blames human actions on the gods’ intentions, or fate, rather than on the humans themselves.

Ishmael gives the narrator the assignment of developing the middle of the Takers’ story for the next day, and the narrator says he will watch NOVA, a science-focused program on PBS, a television station, for more information.